Railroad-crossing



(No Model.) I QSheets-Sheet 1.

' W. S. EAST.

RAILROAD GRO$SING. No. 357,704. Patented Feb. 15,1887.

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. s. EAST. RAILROAD CROSSING.

No. 357,704. Patented Feb. 15, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM s. EAST, on LIMA, OHIO.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,704,6ated February15, 1887. Application filed September 6. 1886. Serial No. 212,871. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. EAsr, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Lima, in the county of Allen and State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Railroad-Crossing, of which the following is aspecification.

Myinvention is an improvement in railroadcrossings, and relates to themanner of forming a continuous rail at such crossings in a cheap,simple, and effective way.

Figure 1 shows my invention as applied to a crossing in perspective;Fig. 2, a perspective of my device separate from the crossing.

A represents the target; B, the revolving rod on which the target ismounted; O, pedestal in which the'rod is pivoted,- D, handle on side ofthe rod, by which the target is turned around across the track desired;E, crank on the lower end of rod B; F, pitman connecting crank E and armG by means of pin H; I, cog-wheelon shaft K, gearing with pinion L onshaft S; N N, miter-wheels that gear with wheels P and P and operate,through rod S and wheels Q Q, wheels R R on rod S T T T T are fouranvils or sections of rail fitting neatly between the rails of the maintracks and closing the spaces; U U U U, similar anvils fitting thespaces between thecrosstracks.

The operation and construction of my device are as follows: To thebottom of the ordinary revolving target stem or rod I attach a crank, E,which, through pitman F, turns the'cog-wheel G as the target is turned.This wheel G is mounted on a short shaft, K, and gears with pinion L onshaft S, which is one of aseries of four shafts forming a square, andhas Quit the miter-wheels N N, which engage with the miter-wheels P P,revolving rods S S and wheels Q Q on their other ends, and through themthe wheels R R on the shaft S It will thus be seen that the turning ofthe target from one track to the other turns the'whole system ofwheels-I L N N P P Q Q R R, and with them -revolves the four shafts S SS S. The wheel I is nearly twice as large'as the wheel L, andconsequently when the wheel I revolves one-half a revolution the shaftsS S S S revolve about two-thirds of a revolution. On each of theseshafts S S S S 1 mount two sections of rail or anvils, T and U, so thatwhen the target is in the position shown in Fig. 1 the open spaces inthe track going north, say, will be filled neatly by the pieces Uforming a continuous track, while the pieces T will be thrown back belowshafts S S, on which they are pivoted, and out of the way'of thecar-wheels; but when the target is thrown into position shown in Fig. 2the anvils or pieces T will be thrown forward between the rails of thetrack running west and forming a continuous track, while the pieces Uare-thrown back on and below the shafts S S out of the way of thewheels. It will thus be seen that the swinging around of the target togive a train the right of way throws my anvils into position, giving thetrain a continuous track across the crossing, while the swinging back ofthe target to give right. of way to the train on the other road willthrow that set of anvils back, throw the others forward, and make acontinuous track across the crossing in the other direction. Theseanvils or blocks, when forming part of the track, rest solidly on platesor road-bed, but when not so in use drop below the rails on theirpivots.

My anvils are fastened on their shafts by set-screws, and shouldanything become the matter they can readily be loosened on their shaftsand dropped back out of the way, leaving the track as it is now for thepassage of trains, and can thus be repaired without delaying a train,and they can be readily raised to be cleaned of snow or ice.

All the apparatus is above ground and readily accessible.

When the crossings are at acute angles, or other than right angles, Imake my shafts with knuckle-joints in them that they may accommodatethemselves to any bend necessary in turning.

WVhat I claim is- 1. In a railroad-crossing, the combination, with crankE and pitman F, of the shafts S S S S having gear-wheels thereon, andthe blocks T U, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a railroad-crossing, the combination,

with shafts arranged across the .path of the wheels, of the blocks T U,mounted on the shafts so that when thrown forward they rest solidly onthe road-bed or plate to close the gap in the track, and when thrownback rest beneath the surface far enough to allow the wheels to passover without touching, as and for the purpose set forth.

WM. S. EAST.

Attest:

A. EAsr, E. .K. CAMPBELL.

